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S01. E03: In the Dark

Joe Hellandback

By Joe Hellandback
in Angel [V]

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Joe Hellandback

Joe Hellandback

In the dark

The Good; Spike mocking Angel is excellent, lovely to see Oz and a great rescue and final battle at the pier. Nice end coda too. The Cordy/Oz/Angel scenes are hysterical, as Willow observes both she and Buffy know the love of 2 taciturn men.

The Bad; Very little, strong ep. Boy Spike is dumb but funnily so. Everyone at the pier seems to take the 2 guys jumping off the end on fire very calmly.

Best line: Doyle (to Angel); "Long time between sunsets huh?"

Jeez, how did they get away with that? Well, Angel get's tortured to nearly death for the majority of the episode. Spike also hints that Marcus has an interest in the kids beyond just eating them. Reputedly this is the ep that got the Angel season 1 DVD box-set an 18 rating in the UK. I don't disagree but what makes this worse than 'Hellbound' which only got a 15 rating?

Apocalypses: 4

Angel Clichés Damsel in distress; yep, that makes 2

Inverting the Hollywood cliché; rather than play the unbreakable tough guy Angel admits that with a little more torture he'd have told Marcus everything. Cordy notes the Gem isn't in the freezer or toilet tank as it would be in the movies.

In disguise; no DB get's his shirt off; no but we get some torso action, Marcus commenting he has 'little external damage'.

Fang Gang in bondage: yep, Angel for virtually the whole ep Cordy: 5 Angel: 5 

Fang gang knocked out: Cordy: 6 Angel: 6

Kills: Cordy: none this ep. 3 vamps, ½ a demon from her time in Sunnydale Angel: Another vamp for Angel. So that gives Angel 8 vamps, 2 demons, 1 human.

Fang Gang go evil: Cordy: 1 Angel: 1

Alternate Fang Gang: Cordy: 1 Angel: 3

Characters killed: only Marcus 9;

Total number of Angel Investigations: 3, Angel, Doyle and Cordy

Angel Investigations shot: no Angel: 4,

Notches on Fang Gang bedpost: Cordy: 1? Angel: 1;Buffy

Kinky dinky: Spike refers to Buffy as 'slutty the vampire slayer' and teases Angel over Buffy's affair with Parker.

Captain Subtext; Spike's speech on Angel is full of homophobia. He also asks if Angel and Marcus would like to be alone when running his hands over Angel's naked torso. Spike comments that Buffy is 'cute when she's hurting', you wonder did he always have a thing for her? Such a shame we never get to meet Doyle's wonderfully named friend 'Frankie Tripod'.

Buffy characters appearing in Angel; (unless someone can correct me no original Angel character ever appears on Buffy?) 4; Angel, Cordy, Oz, Spike

Questions and observations; Why does Angel grab his neck when Marcus puts the chain around it? Surely he doesn't breathe? Marcus wears glasses which presumably like Dalton in Buffy are for sentimental reasons. Doyle has read Angela's Ashes and it reduces him to tears (the novel focuses on the shiftless father so it may appeal to Doyle who never knew his). Angel once again beats his way to what he wants, without Buffy's influence he tends to be a lot more brutal. It's a great performance from Kevin West who is a very familiar face on TV (although I thought he was in Scrubs and Ally McBeal but he isn't, that's Robert Clendenin another actor with a similar look). Marcus wears a Bond style Nehru jacket. Angel knows Doyle's mother. This is Angel investigations first walk-in client and her problem for once is just a very human jerk ex-boyfriend rather than anything supernatural. OK so the ring makes vamps unkillable, even if you cut their heads' off

Okay, back in a couple of days with the next ep but will do Buffy's 'Fear Itself' first. 

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illdoc

illdoc

6 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

Fred yes, when is Doyle mentioned?

Now that I think about it, Giles refers to "your friend's vision" (or something like that) in Pangs (that's the Thanksgiving one, right?). It is, of course, Doyle, but I thought he had mentioned him by name. Maybe not.

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